Communication key as Mapa gets a wiki : “Non‐techie” staff unfazed by IT innovation

Purpose – Follows the planning and development of MapaWiki, an knowledge‐management system for Mapa, a research company specializing in benchmarking. Design/methodology/approach – Reveals that MapaWiki has allowed both the storage of key knowledge and the interactions between employees to be recorded and maintained quickly and easily. Findings – Argues that the wiki has become a central tool for collaboration and the starting point for new activities. Users review existing content and, in addition to submitting new material, add comments and suggestions to the current subject matter. Practical implications – Shows that users are beginning to add and link articles without having to be reminded, and that this knowledge can increasingly be tacit rather than explicit. Originality/value – Highlights that the new system has not stopped the knowledge‐sharing that happened verbally between employees, nor hindered day‐to‐day business tasks.